cattori



Patented Dec. 20, I898.

No. 6l6,403.

n. GATTOBI. SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC TRACTION.

(Application filed Dec. 24, 1897.

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Patented Dec. 20, I898.

/N VEN 70/? ATI'UHNEYS M. CATTORI.

(Application filed Dec. 24. 1897.)

M: Noam: PETERS co. wm ov SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC TRACTION.

No. 6l6,403.

(No Model.)

NlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

lilICI-IELANGELO CATTORI, OF ROME, ITALY.

SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC TRACTION.

SPECIFICATION'fox-ming part of Letters IPatent No. 616,403, dated December 20, 1898.

Application filed December 24,1897. Serial No. 663,382- (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that l, MIcHELANGELo CAT- TORI, a resident of Villa Cattori,Ron1e, Italy, have invented a certain new and useful System of Electric Traction, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a system of electric traction which permits the continuance on the same track of the use of whatever system of traction may have been employed originally.

The invention will be fully described hereinafter and the features of novelty pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 shows a railway with two powerstations, terminal switches, and junctionswitches according to my invention. Figs. 2, 3, and at illustrate the construction of turnouts according to my invention.

In carrying out my present invention I employ sectional conductors, such as described in my United States Patents Nos. 514,303 and 526,963. The arrangement described in said patents is well adapted for use with a single power-station.

It will be understood that whenv the rails are used as conductors all the rails forming part of the same conductor-section must be well connected electrically by wires, by welding, or by other means. The sectional arrangement shown obviously allows only one motor-car at a time to travel upon each section of the line, since cars on dilferent sections will be connected in series, while two motor-cars on the same section would be arranged in parallel, and the sudden change of speed due to a second car entering a section upon which another car is traveling would give a warning to the motorman of each car. The length of the conductor-sections may be arbitrary, or the sections may be made of a length equal to the distance between each two stations, thus forming an automatic block system, since, as above described, no more than one motor-car can be upon the same scction at a time.

.Yhen the line is of such length as to require two or more power-stations, I construct the junction of the two systcms of conductors as shown in Fig. 1. S S are signals located at a suitable distance from the junction, and O tongues.

O are switches permanently connected with the generators D D respectively. The switch 0' is adapted to connect the dynamo D either with the section 1 of one conductor or with the corresponding section 3 of the other conductor. Similarly the switch 0 will effect connection with either the section 2* or the section 4. These switches are worked as follows: The motorman upon the car V upon approaching the signal S will put the motors out of circuit, allowing the car to be carried over the junction by its impetus. As soon as the car has passed the signal S the switchman will throw the switch 0 from con nection with section end 1, as shown, to connection with the section end 3. This will short-circuit the dynamo D through the conductor a'3. lVhen the car reaches the circuit of the dynamo D the motorman will cut the motors into the circuit before he gets to the signal S, and as soon as the car has passed said signal the switchman will change the position of the switch 0 so as to connect the dynamo D with the conductor-section 43*. It will be understood that the terminal switches I and II are reversed, either automatically or by an operator, each time a car passes over them. The j unction-switches O 0 also may be operated automatically by the cars.

Figs. 2, 3, and at show the arrangement of conductors and connections at switches, sidings, and the like. A A are the portions of the main line adjacent to the turnout or shunt S1 The switch-tongues (see 9 and 10 in Fig. 2 adjacent to the cars V V) when open must not be in connection with the adjacent conductor-sections. Thus when the rails are used as conductors and the ordinary switch-tongues as switches for the electric current, as shown, it is necessary either to insulate the tongue or the rail from its supports or to mount them on separate supports insulated from each other. When the switchtongue engages the conductor, it should be in good electrical contact therewith. This may be secured by placing copper strips on the engaging faces of the tongue and rail or by providing suitable devices for pressing the tongue firmly against the rail. The turn out proper has four conductor-sections, two of which (one on each side or track) are perlnanently connected at each end to the switch- In case these conductonsections are formed by the railsthe continuity of the conductor at the frogs a is preserved by the connected to a switch device, such as indicated diagrammatically at Gin Figs. 2, 3, and etthat is, at one end of the turnout the switch device or commutator O is connected with the following five section ends: 1, 2, 5, 6, and 10, the latter being the switch-tongue connected to the inner turnout-conductor section 8. The switch-tongue 0, connected with the other inner turnout-conductor section 8, is not connected with the commutator directly. At the other end of the turnout the section ends 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 are connected with the commutator, while the switchtongue 0, connected with the turnout-conductor section .9, is not directly connected with the commutator. cated in Fig. 2 the circuit is broken between the ends 1 and 2 and also between the ends 7 and 8,while the ends 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 are in electrical connection with each other, as are also the sections 3 8, connected to the switchtongues 9 and 10. It follows that the current takes the path indicated by the heavy linesviz., positive pole (section 5) through motors of car V to other conductor (section 1) of main-line switch-tongue c in contact therewith, the inner conductor .9 on turnout, switch-tongue 9, contact-pieces 9 and 10 of commutator or switch 0, switch-tongue 10, other inner conductor on turnout, section 8 of main line, motors of car V, section 4 of main line, and negative pole. Each car can therefore enter upon that track of the turnout which is to the left in the direction the car is traveling. Of course the connections might readily be so arranged that cars would take the right-hand track of the turnout. The car V will thus proceed onto the section 2 3 and the car V onto the section 6 7; but on account of the gaps at 1 2 and 7 8the cars will not be able to leave the turnout until the position of the commutator C and of the switch-tongues has been changed, as indicated in Fig. 3. This may be effected by moving a section carrying the contact-pieces 2 4 6 :5 1O relatively to the stationary contactpieces 1 3 5 7 9, or vice versa. The path of the current will be clear from Fig. 3viz., positive pole, one of conductors on section A, switch-tongue 10, turnout-conductor 8, motors of car V, other turnout-conductors 2 3 on same track, sections 3 and 6 of commutator O, conductors s and '7 6 on other branch of turnout and motors of car V, switch- In the position inditongue 9, one of conductors on section A, and negative pole.

The commutator C will preferably be actu- 7o ated by an attendant, although it might be arranged to be actuated by the cars.

If the rail switch-tongues do not form a part of the circuit -that is, if the conductors are separate from the rails-they may be moved simultaneously or successively, as their movement does not afieot the circuit, and the comm utator is operated after the rail switchtongues have been thrown .over to the new position. When, however, the rail switchtongues are included in the circuit, as shown, it is obviously necessary that at the moment the switch-tongues are thrown over the continuity of the circuit should be preserved, so that current may be supplied to cars on other sections of the line. This is eifected in the following manner: Vhen (with the commutator in the position illustrated by Fig. 2) the cars V and V' have proceeded to the position shown in Fig. 3, the comm utator is first shifted to the intermediate position shown in Fig. at. In this intermediate position the following sections or contact-pieces of the commutator will 'be in contact with each otl1erviz., 1' with 2, 3 with 4, 5 with 6, '7 with 8, and 9 with 10. The cars having stopped no current will pass through their motors. The turnout will thus be short-circuited as follows: positive pole, section A sections 5 6 of commutator, 6 7 of turnout-conductor, 7 8 of commutator, section of A which is connected to 8, switchtongne c in contact with said section of A, Fig. 2, turnout-conductor s of other branch, to switch-tongue 10, sections 10 9 of commutator, switch-tongue 9, turnout-oonductorsection 8 connected thereto, switch-tongue c at other end of said turnout-conductor section, (which tongue is in contact with conductorsection Aconnected to 1,) one of conductorsections at A, comm utator-sections 1 2, turnoutconductor section 2 3, commutator-sections 3 4c, conductor-section 4 A, and negative pole. Cars on other parts of the line may therefore continue to run while the cars VV are on the turnout. The commutator being in this intermediate position, the switchtongues at both ends of the turnout are thrown over to the position shown in Fig. 3, without, however, changing the position of the commutator. The circuit will then still be contin uousviz. ,positi ve pole,section A switchtongue 10, commutator-sections 1O 9, section 9 A of main conductor, and negative pole. Finally the short circuit will be broken by shifting the commutator into the position In 5 shown in Fig. 3.

In regard to the cars I will say that their construction obviously will depend upon the kind of conductors used, whether two track-rails or track-rails withthird conductor or under- 1 0 ground or overhead wires. The general construction of electric cars for such arrangements is well known. Thus when the rails are used as two conductors and the current is ICO 7 taken therefrom by the tires of the wheels the wheels on the same axle should be insulated from each other. This may be achieved, for instance, by mounting conducting-tires on a wheel-body made of insulating material or by interposing an insulating-collar between the axle and the wheel. One pole of the motor will be connected to the wheel-tires 011 one side of the car, so that the current may be taken either at the front end or at the rear end, or at both, as it normally is. Similarly the wheels on the other side will be connected to the other pole of the motor. lVhen both rails serve as one conductor, or at least when one of the conductors is formed by a third rail or an overhead or underground wire, it obviously is unnecessary to insulate the carwheels of one side from those of the other side.

At stations or terminals sidings and other tracks may be provided, deriving the necessary current either from the main circuit or from separate generators or arranged in any other suitable manner.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- 1. An electric railway, provided with two substantially parallel sectional conductors, arranged in two circuits, an independent generator included in each circuit, terminal switches whereby one pole of each generator may be connected with the corresponding terminal of either conductor of the same circuit, and j unction-switches whereby the other pole of each generator may be connected with the other end of either conductor of the same circuit.

A turnout for electric railways, comprising parallel conductor-sections on the main line at each end of the turnout, two substantially parallel conductor-sections for each branch or track of the turnout, switch-arms permanently connected to each end of one of the conductor-sections on each branch of the turnout, said switch-arms being adapted for connection with the adjacent sections of the main-line conductors, and a commutator having connections with the adjacent spaced ends of the main-conductor and turnout-conductor sections, also connections with one switch-arm at one end of the turnout, and with that switch-arm at the other end of the turnout which is connected to a different turnout conductor from the first-named switcharm; said commutator being so constructed that in one position thereof the following parts will be electrically connected: first, the two switch-arms above mentioned, with each other; second, one of the main-line-conductor sections, with the adjacent turnout-conductor section; and third, the main-line-conductor section at the other end of the turnout, and on the opposite side of the line to the firstmentioned main-line-conductor section, with the adjacent conductor-section on the other branch of the turnout; while, with the commutator in its other position, the following parts will be electrically connected: first, one end of a turnout-conductor section not connected through the commutator in the first position thereof, with the adjacent main-line section; second, the other end of the same turnout-conductor section with the opposite end of that conductor-section on the other branch of the turnout which was not connected through the commutator in the first position thereof; and third, the other end of the last-mentioned turnout-conductor section,with the main-line-conductor section adjoining thereto.

3. A turnout for electric railways, comprising parallel conductor-sections on the main line at each end of the turnout, two substantially parallel conductor-sections for each branch or track of the turnout, switch-arms permanently connected to each end of one of the conductor-sections on each branch of the turnout, said switch-arms being adapted for connection with the adjacent sections of the main-line conductors, and a commutator havingconnections with the adjacent spaced ends of the main-conductor and turnout-conductor sections, also connections with one switcharm at one end of the turnout, and with that switch-arm at the other end of the turnout which is connected to a different turnout conductor from the first-named switch-arm; said commutator being so constructed that in one position thereof the following parts will be electrically connected: first, the two switcharms above mentioned, with each other; second, one of the main-line-conductor sections, with the adjacent turnout-conductor section; and third, the main-line-conductor section at the other end of the turnout, and on the opposite side of the line to the first-"mentioned main-line-conductor section, with the adjacent conductor-section of the other branch of the turnout; while, with the commutator in its other end position, the following parts will be electrically connected: first, one end of a turnout-conductor section not connected through the commutator in the first position thereof, with the adjacent main-line section; second, the other end of the same turnoutconductor section with" the opposite end of that conductor-section of the other branch of the turnout which was not connected through the commutator in the first position thereof; and third, the other end of the lastmentioned turnout-conductor section, with the main line conductor section adjoining thereto; the commutator being also constructed to take an intermediate position in which it effects simultaneously all the connections set forth with reference to its other two positions.

Signed at Rome, Italy, vember, 1897.

MICHELANGELO OATTORI. lVitnesses:

FERDINANDO DE PALMAY, ROBERT E. HANDLEY.

this 20th day of No- 

